Terminal Cancer and AI

How Perplexity AI Became My Lifeline

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When the first lung metastases were discovered in February 2025, we still held onto the hope that there was time. We had hoped to have more adventures in this last phase of life. I knew from Perplexity AI that the metastasis this quickly after her initial surgery was not good. Perplexity told me that median survival for this recurrence was 13.4 months, but we hoped that she would be in the 52% of patients who make it to the three-year cancer-free mark.

On August 27th, we headed to Medellin, Colombia, for a 30-day visit. We were to return on September 25th, and her next scan was scheduled for September 30th. However, on our third day in Medellin, things began to go badly. And by the fourth day, my wife could barely get out of bed. On September 2nd, fearing the worst, I turned to Perplexity AI once again.

Here is my prompt:

“This 79-year-old had the lower right lobe of her lung removed due to metastasis of her myxofibrosarcoma in March. Her July scan was clear, although there was a very small spot. If that spot in July was another aggressive metastasis, what would her symptoms be today, two months later?”

Perplexity listed the symptoms that she would be experiencing, and many of them matched what she was experiencing. I followed that with…